By the common law there are two forms of verdict, general and special; the general form is either guilty or not guilty;4 and the special is one in which the jury set out the facts which they find the evidence proves, and the court, upon such special findings, determines the conclusions of law and renders judgment.5

If the defendant is on trial for a felony in which the indictment may contain one, or even several counts, relating to the same transaction, the usual form of the verdict is, we, the jury, find the defendant, John Smith, guilty of burglary (or whatever the felony is, naming it), in manner and form as charged in the indictment.6 Or a verdict reading, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty, is sufficient.7

When several counts relate to a single offense, and a conviction upon each count requires the same sentence and judgment as a conviction upon all would, a general verdict is all the law requires.8

4 4 Blackstone Com., 361.

5 4 Blackstone Com., 361; People vs. Ah Ye, 31 Cal., 451; State vs. Spray, 113 N. C, 686. 6 Meadowcroft vs. People, 163 Ill., 85; Mitchell vs. Com., 21 Ky.

L., 222.

7 Armstrong vs. People, 37 Ill., 462; Bond vs. People, 39 Ill., 27; State vs. Nowland, 64 Me., 531.

8 Kilgore vs. State, 74 Ala., 1;

State vs. Wright, 53 Me., 328; Lyons vs. People, 68 Ill., 276.

On an indictment containing six counts, three for felony and three for misdemeanor, all relating to the same transaction, and the jury returned a verdict of "guilty in manner and form as charged in the indictment," the conclusion is that the defendant was found guilty upon each of the six counts.9